As well known, widely used for preparing pizza, sandwich or salad, a food preparation table includes a horizontally disposed counter top for providing a place on which foodstuff is prepared; a pan holder disposed adjacent to the counter top, which accommodates a plural number of pans containing ingredient foodstuff items, e.g., sliced tomatoes and lettuces; one or more covers for covering or exposing the pan holder; a food storage compartment which is provided with a plural number of doors in a front thereof and refrigerates other items; and a refrigerating system which supplies cooled air into the food storage compartment and the pan holder.
Each cover is connected to an upper portion of an insulating wall surrounding the pan holder by means of hinge axles and brackets, so that it can open or close. When the ingredient foodstuff items in the pans disposed in the pan holder are used for preparing foodstuff, the covers are open. And while the ingredient foodstuff items are not used, the covers close the pan holder, so that the cooled air in the pans can be prevented from contacting with the ambient warm air.
Referring to FIG. 1, there is illustrated an exploded perspective view of a conventional cover. The cover 50′ is provided with an upper case 30 made of stainless steel, an insulated pad 20 disposed inside the upper case 30, a lower case 10 covering a bottom portion of the insulated pad 20 and a pair of first and a pair of second hinge axles 35a, 35b. The lower case 10 is coupled to the upper case 30 by a plural number of bolts 34 screwing into openings 32 formed in both sides of the upper case 30 and rivet screws 22 built in both sides of the lower case 10. The first and the second hinge axles 35a, 35b are disposed on rear portions of the both sides of the upper case 30 in a manner that the first hinge axles 35a are closer to a front portion of the upper case 30 than the second hinge axles 35b. The first and the second hinge axles 35a, 35b are provided with external thread portions 24a, 24b projecting from the both sides of the upper case 30 and internal thread portions 26a, 26b, wherein the internal thread portions 26a, 26b are screwed onto the external thread portions.
However, such a cover has some drawbacks. First, since the rivet screws 22 are built in the sides of the lower case 10, an assembling process of the cover 50 requires relatively long time, which deteriorates a productivity in the mass production.
Referring to FIG. 2, there is illustrated a perspective view of a conventional bracket with which a pair of the hinge axles 35a, 35b are movably engaged. The bracket 40 is provided with a bottom surface 41 which has a flange f attached to an upper portion of the insulated wall surrounding the pan holder; a vertically oriented guide surface 42 which guides the first hinge axle 35a vertically when the cover 50 is opened or closed; a slant face 44; and a round portion 43 which is disposed at a corner formed with the guide surface 42 and the slant face 44. The slant face 44 is provided with a latch slot 45 which keeps the cover 50 open, and a slantingly oriented guide slot 46 in which the second hinge axle 35b is slidably fitted. The latch slot 45 is formed in an upper portion of the slant face 44 and the guide slot 46 in a lower portion thereof.
As shown in FIG. 2, when the cover 50 is closed, the first hinge axle 35a is positioned at a lower portion of the guide surface 42 and the second hinge axle 35b at a lowest portion of the guide slot 46. When the cover 50 is opened, as shown in dotted line, the first hinge axle 35a is vertically lifted along the guide surface 42 and the second hinge axle 35b is moved upward in the guide slot 46. Therefore, since the first hinge axle 35a is moved vertically and the entire cover 50 is lifted, great force is required to open the cover 50. In addition, since the first hinge axle 35a is moved vertically, it collides severely with the upper portion of the pan holder when accidentally dropped from opening state, which may cause damage on both.